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Journal of Art in Society

@artinsociety.bsky.social
11K followers 1.5K following 1.9K posts

Philip McCouat writes in-depth articles on art, history and social change in the Journal of Art in Society at artinsociety.com

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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 4h
Bagpipes have an ancient history ~ here, in Bosch’s Adoration of the Magi, a male & female piper watch proceedings from thatched roof, while other shepherds climb tree to get a view. In the background are three armies and the holy city of Jerusalem (Prado, c 1498)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Impressed by the realism and precision of this tiny detail of foliage in the massive Ghent Altarpiece, created by the van Eyck brothers almost 600 years ago (1432) culturetourist.com/destinations...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
An evocative landscape, with the hazards of driving through the countryside on a wintry night, by 20th century Birmingham illustrator Michael Reilly. He specialised in transport-related scenes and travel posters (1930s)
Snowy night scene of road passing through fields, and what seems to be a fallen tree on road, illuminated by headlights of approaching car
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Images often show animals entering Noah’s Ark, but here’s one showing their exit. From top R, God gestures that it’s OK to come out / Noah makes a fiery sacrifice / restarts growing vines / makes & drinks wine / as drowned bodies float (15C Bedford Book of Hours)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Just admiring Juan van der Hamen y León’s skill in using reflections to create a convincing depiction of clear glassware, in this detail from his Still Life with Sweetmeats and Glass Vessels (1622, Prado)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Just after his release from the asylum, and a few weeks before he died, van Gogh painted this vibrant scene of flowering chestnut trees in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise. Not seen in public for many decades, it’s hoped to fetch $180m at auction (Châtaigniers en Fleurs, May 1890)
Sunny day, but with very dark blue sky. Large tree, with many yellow/orange flowers, by the side of a dirt road where a man is walking. Three women in colourful dresses walk with parasols on footpath in shade of tree
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In a 4,500 year-old tomb in Giza, Egypt, excavated in 1927, archaeologists found about 7,000 separate beads. After a seemingly impossible but meticulous re-assembly, they were revealed to constitute this bead-net dress www.messynessychic.com/2019/09/09/1...
Slim fitting sleeveless open weave dress made from gold and green beads
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Recognise her? This, at L, is Freda Kahlo’s first known work ~ a self-portrait painted when she was about 15. It features her characteristic direct gaze, but her emphasis on Mexican culture, clothing and nature would only start to develop in her more mature works
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
To judge from some medieval manuscripts, it seems that whenever a knight was not busy rescuing maidens, he liked to hone his fighting skills by attacking snails blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
German/US artist Albert Bierstadt felt that Yosemite was the Garden of Eden, and portrays it here as an awe-inspiring idyllic wilderness in a golden haze, untouched by humans (Valley of the Yosemite, 1864)
imposing steep mountains stretching into distance, calm shining river with trees on banks, deer grazing
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In this quiet painting, young domestic servant in wealthy household has interrupted her dusting duties & stands engrossed in reading a book. On the elegant tabletop is a still-life of a stationery box, Asian vases & a porcelain figure (William McGregor Paxton, The House Maid, 1910, NGA, Washington)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Close-up reveals John Singer Sargent’s blend of portraiture & impressionism, capturing lamplit reflections on crystal & silver as woman nurses glass of wine & her husband, radically cropped, smokes after-dinner cigar (Dinner Table at Night, 1884) godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.com/2018/06/sarg...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Admiring the detailed background of village and countryside in Joachim Patinir’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt. In foreground, the Virgin sits by a stream, seeking to restrain wriggly Jesus (c 1520, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Eerie ~ this part of a giant marble hand was originally part of a colossal 2nd century statue at the Temple of Hercules, in Amman, Jordan (photo: Robert Clark, National Geographic) www.messynessychic.com/2019/02/04/1...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
French-based American artist Daniel Ridgway Knight’s almost-photographic ‘Hailing the Ferry’ presents a romantically idyllic view of 19C peasant life (1888) PAFA Pennsylvania
Two women in peasants' clothes on the bank of a calm river shout and wave to attract the attention of an out-of-shot ferry
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This idyllic portrayal of a “green and pleasant land” at the foot of the Cotswold escarpment was painted by Stanley Spencer close to the village where he was living during WW2 (Landscape, Gloucestershire, 1940)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I’ve posted this painting before, but it's still a mystery ~ no-one really knows what’s going on, but everyone seems to have a firm view about it! So, is she waving to the spectral child outside, or warning her, or maybe something else? ~ Jacobus Vrel's ‘Woman at a Window’ (1650)
Woman sits awkwardly in her chair, peering out a large dark window and holding one palm against the panes. Through the window we see a ghostly small child
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Van Gogh never stopped learning from his favourite artists ~ he painted his ‘Bridge in Rain’ (1887) as an acknowledged tribute to Hiroshige’s woodblock print ‘Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge’ (1857) www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collectio...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I’ve just come across 19/20C Norwegian painter Asta Nørregaard ~ a very fine portraitist indeed, sometimes likened to John Singer Sargent. Here’s her portrait of high-society figure Elisabeth Fearnley (with polar bearskin) and her own self-portrait
Woman in long black dress lounges on white bearskin, holding posy of flowers, looking confidently at viewer, but not smiling. Background of floral wallpaperStanding woman in pale mauve and white dress, straw hat with floral decorations, arms by her side, turns to look at viewer, with neutral expression. White background
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I think this cheeky-looking rabbit has been up to some mischief … A marginal illumination from 14th century Bible, National Museum Library, Prague
scampering rabbit looks upward with cheeky smile
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Hans Memling’s astonishing compression of 23 sequential scenes into one aerial composite image, from Christ’s entry into Jerusalem & Last Supper / carrying the cross / to his crucifixion & resurrection (1471). Details at eclecticlight.co/2022/02/04/a...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Frederic Leighton depicts well-dressed young woman with her arms resting on top of small “cottage” piano that’s being played languidly by a dashing-looking long-haired man, presumably her beau. The artist felt that this was the most successful of all his paintings (Golden Hours, 1864)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
James McNeill Whistler’s exotically-decorated Peacock Room (Harmony in Blue & Gold, 1877) was originally conceived for dining room of shipping magnate Frederick Leyland, who hated it, but kept it intact till death. Now recreated in Freer Gallery, Washington peacockroom.wayne.edu
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Laura Knight depicts friend & fellow-artist Lamorna Birch with his posie-clutching daughters in country setting with river sparkling in spring sunlight. Huge size, & by the time it was finished both girls had grown up! (1916-34) www.lakesidearts.org.uk/news/out-of-...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This generously-proportioned new statue has just been installed in London’s Trafalgar Square ~ US artist Tschabalala Self’s ‘Lady in Blue’ radiates confidence and physicality. And how about that blue! (Getty Images / Guardian)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
From the archive ~ over 2,000 years old, a gold Greek roundel (medallion/disc) featuring bees at work. Incredibly, despite its level of detail, its recorded diameter is just 4cm (1½ inches) (Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Russian landscape artist Nikolay Dubovskoy had a deep interest in the atmospheric effects of light ~ here’s his ‘Homeland’ and ‘Rainbow’ (late 19C/20C)
light streams down from blue sky and illuminates part of flat green landscapeman in floating rowboat stands up to look at rainbow seeming to lead to a strip of land, with cumulous clouds billowing above
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Laura Knight’s seemingly-effortless pencil sketch of her bare-footed Cornwall neighbour & friend Ella Naper, eating an apple as she looks back down at us from her perch on a tree in a local orchard (1916). Love those delicate shadows! www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
From ancient Egypt 4,500 years ago ~ the hauntingly-lifelike eyes of this Seated Scribe, made from white magnesite (with tiny red veins!) and pupils of rock crystal (Saqqara Necropolis, Louvre) human.libretexts.org/Courses/Miam...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
17th century Dutch master of still-lifes Abraham Mignon depicts a bouquet of flowers which has been overturned by a cat playing with a mousetrap (lower L ~ see the shadow of the mouse?) But the startled face of that cat is peculiar (Rijksmuseum)
Nose and shape of the cat's mouth are almost human
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
In this idyllic woodblock print, Living National Treasure Kawase Hasui depicts the Pine Beach at Miho, with Mt Fuji in the background (Art Inst of Chicago, 1931)
Angular view of beach, with shadows of trees on sand, more trees and empty rowboat on left, breaking waves on right, & another boat on the water. In distance, over the water, green hill and more distant misty Mt Fuji
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Anglo-Australian artist Weaver Hawkins had to teach himself to paint with his left arm, after losing the use of his right arm at the WW1 Battle of the Somme. Here’s his Morning Underground / Dance in the Football Field / Going Round
People in crowded train, all reading large newspapersrhythmic vignettes of incidents from game of rugby footballdynamic depiction of colourfully-clad jockeys riding racehorses round a bend
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Beguiling details of birds, plants, flowers, butterflies and other insects from the doors of the Nativity façade of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona (designer/sculptor: Etsuro Sotoo) traveltalk.me.uk/2017/01/25/t...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Remarkable detail of material and lacework in this portrait of Madame de Pompadour as she worked on an embroidery frame, shortly before her early death from TB in 1764. (Francois-Hubert Drouais)
Colourful floral motifs on white material
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
About 15,000 years ago, someone with impressive powers of observation did this realistic sketch of a contented-looking horse on a wall of the Niaux Cave, in the French Pyrenees www.bradshawfoundation.com/niaux/index....
Detailed study of horse's head, slightly smiling(?), ears erect, eyes closed, hairy mane
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Leading Bolognese artist Lavinia Fontana’s Portrait of a Noblewoman (c 1580-90), before and after recent restoration. Which do you prefer? Fontana was the main breadwinner in a family of 13, but (surprise, surprise) her works were often misattributed to male artists
Restored version looks much cleaner and brighter. Unrestored version looks rather dirty and "atmospheric"
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Easy to involve yourself in the wildly dramatic composition and intricate detail ~ as well as the person running downhill ~ in French illustrator Nico Delort’s ‘Afternoon’ (2016) www.rootliterary.com/nicolas-delort
A flower-strewn sloping meadow, a wild forest in the background and huge cloud banks up above, as a person runs flat out down the hill
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Irrepressible 18th century Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard painted this still-life of a tea set when he was in his 80s. The details of the light falling on the porcelain and silver surfaces are wonderful (Tea Service, 1783, Getty) godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.com/2015/01/stil...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
From the 15th century, a slightly manic-looking rabbit bakes its own bread in a miniature oven. I suppose you could call this rabbit a little hot cross bun? (Lansdowne Manuscripts, British Museum)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Breathtaking 673-diamond necklace, once owned by Egyptian royalty, allegedly stolen last Thursday afternoon by two unmasked thieves, from an exhibition at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (Van Cleef & Arpels, 1939). Photographs of suspects at R www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This is a stiking early soft-focus photograph of her daughter by Gertrude Käsebier, who later became a prominent artistic photographer and chronicler of Native American culture (France, 1894) www.loc.gov/search/?in=&...
Seated young woman with dark hair and glistening eyes turns toward us
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
“Under the blue sky, the orange, yellow, red patches of flowers take on an amazing brilliance, and in the limpid air there’s something happier and more suggestive of love than in the north” ~ in a letter to brother Theo, Vincent celebrates the colours of a flower garden in Arles (1888)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
17th century Dutch painter Cornelis Kick’s still-life of a lemon and pink roses on a pewter plate contrasts the colours of epehemeral life with a timeless dark background (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
This brilliantly-coloured squid is about as long as a rolling pin ~ and not only is it a jet propelled swimmer, but it also can fly through the air over the ocean, sometimes in large formations (Neon flying squid, Ommastrephes bartramii) www.theguardian.com/environment/...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Belgian painter Anto Carte specialised in depicting the dignity of everyday family or working life ~ here, seen from behind, a muscled boatman battles against the strength of the swirling current (‘Effort’, 1922, MFA Liege) konstspegel.com/2020/07/03/a...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Leonardo’s sketch Head of a Young Woman, described as “one of the finest achievements in all draftsmanship” (Bernard Berenson) & “one of the most beautiful in the world” (Kenneth Clark), is a study for the androgynous angel in his Virgin of the Rocks (Louvre)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Before the clearance of the Glasgow slums ~ this photograph taken by Thomas Annan in 1868 depicts a dank cobblestone laneway, with a child partly obscured at the top of the stairs at R & another at the bottom. Above them, washed laundry hangs eerily like bodies collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O182730...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
This little painting on a wooden plate, now attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, illustrates the Flemish proverb that a person who acts like a pig (often a drunkard) belongs in the pigsty. Here, a man in his underclothes gets pushed into a shed where pig feeds on foodscraps (1567)
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This 400-year-old painting by Artemisia Gentilischi has been literally defaced by removal of the head and shoulders by unnamed persons, possibly WW2 looters. Despite this, sold at auction for €837,500! www.dorotheum.com/en/p/837500-...
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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Here’s Odysseus strapped to the mast so he can resist seduction by the heavenly singing of bird-women sirens in the Strait of Messina ~ as seen on this 2,500-year-old Greek pottery ■ by English artist JW Waterhouse in 1891 ■ and, er, by Matt Damon in Hollywood, 2026
A trussed Matt Damon yells very loudly to block out sirens in the film The Odyssey
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